The Folk Dances
by RockDiva
Summary: Tigress loves the folk dances that occur during the Winter Festival, so why isn't she dancing? Takes place right after the end of Kung Fu Panda Holiday Special. No spoilers for KFP 2 aside for a few general comments about Po/Tigress in the second AN.


**A/N - **I would like to first thank those who reviewed my first two KFP 2 stories. Every review/fave makes me feel extremely blessed. This new story is something I started way back in November when the _Kung Fu Panda Holiday Special _first aired. Being the hopeless Po/Tigress shipper I am, I couldn't help but immediately be drawn to the fact that Po makes such a big deal about the dancing when with his dad and then later that Tigress' fond memory of the celebration was of the folk dances as well. This then led me to wonder how Tigress even knows about the folk dances since she was first an orphan and then later the diligent student. I mean, I'm assuming Shifu never attended the commoners' winter celebration by his attitude in the special so I assumed he wouldn't have allowed Tigress to attend them either. So that's how this ficlet was born. I didn't finally find the motivation to finish it until seeing the sequel.

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><p><strong><em>The Folk Dances<em>**

Dancing. No Winter Festival was complete without it. Po had long ago decided it had to be his favorite part of the holiday with the exception of spending time with friends and family, of course. Oh and he couldn't forget the importance of noodles. But dancing was the crowning touch. And this holiday was no different as most everyone finally took a break from eating and headed into the town circle to sing, dance and be merry in about a million other ways.

The band played a number of joyous and rollicking melodies and Po was one of the first to join in, most of the Furious Five following soon after. Viper especially had a fun time of it as she slithered in perfect rhythm with the music. A crowd surrounded her as she enjoyed the attention, it reminding her of her days as a young snake ribbon dancing to make her father happy. She could have danced for hours in such a fashion if it weren't for a continually perplexing sight out of the corner of her eyes.

Finally excusing herself for a break, Viper slithered over to the young, female tiger that stood along the outer edges of the crowd. "Why don't you join us, Tigress?" Viper asked, not bothering to beat about the bush. The kung fu master in question stiffened slightly.

"I don't care to," came Tigress' somewhat withdrawn response.

"Don't care to?" Viper stared at her in confusion. "But you said back at the palace…"

"I know," Tigress cut her off as calmly as possible. "I know what I said. But that was there and this is…well, this is different." Tigress' explanation was far from understandable.

"It's just dancing, Tigress," Viper said with a small shake of her head. "If it's something you enjoy, you should just do it. I don't see what the problem is."

Tigress flinched, but managed to control herself from lashing out. "Please, Viper," she looked at the snake and to her relief Viper gave up and went back to the crowd to enjoy herself once more.

However, Tigress' relief was short lived as Master Shifu came up beside her, having just finished a game of mahjong with some of the villagers in Mr. Ping's restaurant. "She's right, you know," the red panda said calmly and Tigress looked down at him in confusion.

"Master?" Tigress questioned simply.

"I'm still learning many things as I continue my own journey and one of them is that there is a time for all things. And tonight is a time for celebrating."

"Master, with all due respect, I'm just more content to watch the dances than join them."

"Is that so?" Shifu raised one of his long eyebrows. "Then why did you not say this to Viper?" His question caused her to realize her mistake. "No, Tigress, it is something else. But only you can determine what it is and only when you are ready. I only hope the dance has not passed you by when that time has come. I only hope you do not make the same mistakes that I have."

Tigress closed her eyes for a moment, wishing to say something, but not sure how. "Master, I…" she started, opening her eyes, but Shifu was already gone. She turned around to look for him, but her expression showed disappointment when she failed to see him anywhere.

"Tigress, why aren't you dancing?" The unexpected voice startled her and this time Tigress couldn't control herself. Turning around, she raised a claw to the unsuspecting offender. Thankfully, Po was able to dodge the blow. "Whoa!" he said in genuine shock.

She realized who it was and straightened back up. "I, I'm sorry, Po. But you really shouldn't sneak up on people," she narrowed her eyes at him.

"Yeah, sorry about that. Guess it's a good thing it was me and not someone else right?" He laughed nervously, feeling the awkwardness of the moment.

Tigress' eyes widened as she realized just how right he was. She inwardly kicked herself for having lost her temper so easily. "It is a good thing," she said honestly, no matter how bitter it was to admit. "But to answer your question, I don't care to dance. And I really wish people would stop bringing it up."

"Oh right, of course," Po nodded, still feeling a bit awkward. "I guess I just love the folk dances so much, I forget not everyone does. But, you know, if it's not your thing, then that's totally cool. Sorry I scared you." Po turned around so quickly, anyone watching would have assumed he was attempting to flee the scene.

Tigress looked at the panda with a mixture of astonishment and hesitation. "Po, wait," she forced herself to say. Po turned back around almost as quickly as before. "I love the folk dances too," she admitted, knowing he hadn't been around at the Jade Palace when she'd mentioned it before. She was silent for a moment as she debated opening up to him. At last, she sighed and decided it was for the best. "I've always loved them. I remember sneaking away from the Jade Palace as a girl, while all the masters had their feast, and watching everyone dance." She wore a soft smile, something that was slowly starting to grace her face more and more now that Po was a part of their group.

"Really?" Po could hardly believe it as he looked at her. His face scrunched up for a second, "Well, why didn't you join us? I mean, because you totally could have. You didn't just have to watch."

The smile disappeared from her face, causing Po to miss it instantly. "It's just not a thought that ever crossed my mind," Tigress answered and Po briefly wondered if it was the truth before choosing to believe her.

"Well, you don't just have to watch now," Po shrugged unassumingly, a reassuring look on his face.

Tigress' ears twitched slightly as several thoughts filled her head. "Really, Po, I can't. I've never danced in front of anyone and I really don't plan to start now," she tried hard to hide her embarrassment behind a smirk. "And it's nice just being able to see the dances this close," she added a similar defense to the one she'd given Shifu.

Po was quiet for a moment as he considered what she said. "Oh, well, then I think I'll join you," he suddenly offered with enthusiasm.

"What? No, Po, you should be dancing if you love it so much," Tigress held out her paw towards the crowd, bewilderment on her face as she looked at him. The last thing she wanted was someone taking pity on her. That, after all, was not the Tigress way.

"I love watching them too," he reiterated. "Besides, tonight is about being with friends and family. I wouldn't feel right if you were just standing here by yourself the whole time. So if this is what you want to do, then it's what I want to do too," he smiled warmly and turned so that he was standing right beside her. His eyes went straight to taking in the many dances as a bystander.

Tigress appeared baffled at first, but she accepted his offer and a smile returned to her face as she also went back to watching the dances. Soon after, they easily fell into conversation about the celebration. Tigress would admire a certain dance step here or Po would mimic a move in a goofy, exaggerated manner there. They enjoyed each other's company and Tigress had to admit to herself that the night was better now that she was spending it with a friend.

"Whoa, now those are some awesome moves over there," Po said pointing at a villager.

Tigress followed his point and nodded. She then noticed that one of Po's feet was tapping and that he looked as though he would like to start dancing again at any moment. She tilted her head backwards just a little as she studied him carefully. "Po," she said with less confidence than one would expect from the mighty kung fu master, "I'm ready."

Po broke his gaze away from the dancing villagers as he processed what she had said. "Ready?" He looked at her in confusion although a smile remained on his face.

"It's like you said. Tonight is about being with friends and family," she returned his smile. "So if dancing is what you want to do, then it's what I want to do too."

Po's eyes widened as he realized what she meant. "Oh, you mean, so like…are you sure?"

"Don't make me think about it," she warned him somewhat playfully, but with enough edge to her voice to let Po know she meant it.

"Alright then," Po's smile got bigger and he grabbed her by the arm before she had a chance to react.

At first the poor tiger was clearly out of her element, but it wasn't long before Po, and the others taking notice and joining them, helped her loosen up. Tigress soon found herself enjoying the dances she'd only ever admired. And none of them noticed Shifu watching them with a small smile, inwardly glad that thanks to Po's heart, the dance had not passed Tigress by.

**The End**

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><p><strong>AN (cont.) - **Sorry if Tigress seemed off in this. After seeing the sequel, I went back and polished this story in an effort to make this something that helped lead to the warm friendship Po and Tigress have from the very get go in the sequel. So, Tigress may seem really weird because I was trying hard to find that balance between what we saw in the Holiday Special and what we see in the sequel (if you've seen it). Additionally, with the Tigress/Shifu relationship, it was hard for me to figure out where they currently stand. After seeing the sequel, a big part of me thinks they still really haven't resolved their issues yet. So that's why I added Tigress having a slightly angsty moment in regards to Shifu. Lastly, I intentionally chose to leave Tigress' real reason for not dancing a slight mystery since that's the way Tigress' personality is. We only seem to get glimpses of what she's hiding, so I didn't want her to open up entirely to Po at this point (or I was just being lazy and didn't want to give a very specific reason). Anyways, hope you enjoyed it at least a little :)


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